Always Check The Desk
by Paige42
Summary: Kate comes home to an empty shop. Are evil things afoot?


TITLE: Always Check The Desk 1/1  
  
AUTHORS: Sam (Lestrade221@aol.com)  
  
RATING: PG  
  
FEEDBACK: Ah, time is a wonderful thing.  
  
DISCLAIMER: All established characters (Micki, Ryan, Jack, Johnny, Lewis etc....) belong to Frank Mancuso, Jr. Kate Brannigan is a creation of Karen.   
  
EXPLANATION: A store with stuff and the devil as an occasional renter.  
  
The season of summer camp work has now ended... without blood shed I may add. So in celebration, a bit of fic to let loose the floodgates of fic that have been pilling up in my head for the past two months.  
  
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Kate Brannigan slowly nudged the door open with her hip. "Hello! Can... ouch... can someone give me a hand?" She entered the front door with a loud jangle. A back pack hung over her shoulder, shopping bags looped over her arm and a pile of books carefully stacked in her hands. "Hey guys? I really need a hand here!" Kate slowly edged her foot out until she found the stair landing. She leaned forward to slide the books out of her hands. They tumbled out and slid across the floor. She sighed. "Thanks alot." She stepped over the pile and made her way to the desk. She edged the backpack off her shoulder and made her way up the stairs. "Excuse me! Lady in distress here! I can't feel my left arm at all!" She quickly ran to the kitchen table and dumped the bags onto its top. With a sigh, she ran her hand through her hair. "Geez you guys. Did you all take the day off?" She peeked her head into Micki's bedroom. "Hey Mick, I got you..." She trailed off. No on in there. "Hm." She began to put the groceries away.  
  
~*~  
  
Kate made her way down the stairs. She had been in the house about twenty minutes and still no one had come up to her. No one had shouted a "Hello" or even a "It's about damn time, where the hell have you been?" She made her way back to the pile of books at the top of the stairs. Thoughts upon thoughts had run through her head. "Maybe they all went to dinner", "Maybe they went out looking for antiques". Then the obvious thoughts popped in. "Maybe someone came for them", "Maybe they're all lying dead somewhere", "Maybe they got kidnapped by another cult". On and on they went. She slammed the stack of books on the desk and grabbed one of Jack's daggers. She and Ryan had been practicing with them lately, mostly just as a way to look cool and impress their friends. Now, however, she needed them for a more important reason. She slowly made her way down to the level of the shop that housed the vault, the dagger held tight in her left hand. She stepped down quietly and went to the far wall. Their new friends at the Special Unit of the Chicago police department had installed a new security system for them to insure that they could all be away from the shop without anyone... or anything breaking in. She looked at the LCD screen on the panel. Nope. It was fine. Jack had reset it this morning. Nothing had been done since. Okay, now she was freaked. No one was here and it looked like nothing was missing. She ran back upstairs.   
  
~*~  
  
Kate grabbed the phone and hit the speed dial. She tossed the back pack off the top and sat down. "Nick? Hey, it's Kate Brannigan. No, I'm fine. I'm not sure. No, I know the system didn't go off. No, everyone's gone. Yes, that is out of the ordinary. There's usually at least one person left. I don't know, I just..." She trailed off. A small piece of paper caught her eye. It had her name on it. "Hang on." She laid the phone on her shoulder and flipped open the note.  
  
'Kate,  
  
For God's sake, take a vacation. We are.   
  
Mathison Bed an Breakfast, Route 9.  
  
Ryan'  
  
Kate sighed. "Nick... Nick... O'Malley! Nevermind. No, I... I found a note." She frowned. "Hey, given out track record around here, do you blame me?" She laughed. "Yeah. Yeah, thanks." She paused and smiled. "No. I'm going on vacation."  
  
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End file.
